Bicyclist continually pondered designs and alterations of their cycles and components to increase efficiency and reduce effort. Along this line of thought alternative bicycle wheels have been patented and built which are designed to decrease aerodynamic drag experienced by rotation of a conventional spoke wheel. The prior art includes a number of alternatives to standard spokes wheels for this purpose, the following patents are good examples of the prior art:
Arrendondo, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,275 PA1 Klieber at al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,603,553 PA1 Enders, U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,485 PA1 Schlanger, U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,199 PA1 Hopkins et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,490
Various problems have been overcome by the prior devices, such as reducing aerodynamic drag, increasing lateral and torsional stability, decreasing cross wind problems and manufacturing methods. Although the prior art patents are extremely useful for their stated purposes, there has never been a bicycle wheel as the present which decreases aerodynamic drag, decreases the "sail effect" experience by cross winds, is light weight in construction, easily manufactured using known manufacturing processes, and further increases rotational efficiency.
The present invention includes a central hub section and a rim with a plurality of spoke members extending between the rim and the central hub, each spoke includes a leading edge and two trailing edges with air deflecting walls extending between each trailing edge and the leading edge. The spokes have equal shapes and dimensions and are evenly spaced in intervals radially about the central hub and rim. A cross sectional profile of each spoke about mid way between each end resembles a "V" with a centrally located trailing edge cavity positioned between each trailing edge and behind the leading edge. The wheel and spokes are installed for rotation with the leading edge of each spoke forward so that as the wheel rotates the leading edge, air deflecting walls and centrally located trailing edge cavity create a drafting effect for the following spoke leading edge. Accordingly, each spoke drafts the spoke immediately forward by a low pressure formed around the centrally located trailing edge cavity thereby reducing the effort for each succeeding spoke. The spoke drafting is similar to cyclists drafting each other during long distance racing. The difficulty encountered with cross winds is not experienced in the present invention and the present invention considerably increases rotation efficiency as will be shown below by the rotational experimental data comparing the present invention to traditional spoke wheel rotation efficiency. The spokes, hub, and rim may be integrally formed from the same material or may be manufactured as separate components.